Quick Takes | Higher education round-up: April 6

A weekly roundup of news from around the Ivy League and the higher-education community

Cornell’s University Assembly — a voting body comprised of staff and students — is debating a policy change that would lower the burden of proof required for sexual assault accusations, sparking criticism and praise across campus.

Sexual assault offenders face expulsion from the school, and opponents say that the change would make it too easy for falsely accused students to face grave and irreversible consequences. Advocates say the change is important for creating a fairer process and protecting students who have been assaulted.

Harvard Management Company, which runs the school’s $32 billion endowment — the largest of any higher education institution — made the decision after committing in December to review HEI’s business practices, which have been repeatedly attacked by labor activists for breaking labor regulations.

HMC’s President and CEO Jane Mendillo claimed that the decision stemmed from strategic factors, rather than the question of labor practices.

Penn made a similar decision not to reinvest last year, as did Princeton, Yale, Brown and Cornell universities, among others.

Princeton University

Norovirus outbreak traced to Panera

An outbreak of the stomach-flu causing virus norovirus among 288 Princeton students this semester was traced back to the school’s local Panera Bread.

The Princeton Regional Health Department suspected the restaurant after noticing that several patients ate there before contracting the virus. Five Panera workers were temporarily removed from food handling.

The virus is the number one cause of illness from contaminated foods and though it only lasts a few days, can spread quickly.

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Walters will speak on the heels of actor Tom Hanks, former President Bill Clinton, political satirist Christopher Buckley and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair.

According to the selection committee, Walters was chosen in part because the school has not had a female speaker since 2005.

Yale is the fifth Ivy to announce its graduation speaker, which so far count Time editor Fareed Zakaria at Harvard, Harper’s Magazine president and publisher John MacArthur at Columbia, actor Steve Carell at Princeton and social activist Geoffrey Canada here at Penn. Barnard College is having President Barack Obama.